


a woman's best friend

by almostafantasia



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 15:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11786412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almostafantasia/pseuds/almostafantasia
Summary: Waverly meets Calamity Jane for the first time. Set towards the end of season 1.(aka some much needed fluff after the angst of the last few episodes)





	a woman's best friend

“Come on in. Make yourself at home.”

Nicole has been to the homestead on multiple occasions, for both professional and personal visits, but this is the first time that Waverly has ever been to Nicole’s place and she’s…

Nervous? It doesn’t seem like the right word to describe seeing her girlfriend’s apartment for the first time but Waverly’s heart pounds against her ribcage as she crosses the threshold behind Nicole and her hand trembles slightly as she reaches down to unzip her boots beside the doormat. Visiting Nicole’s apartment is yet another milestone in this budding new relationship and with each one, the whole thing becomes a hell of a lot more real.

The last couple of weeks have been a delirious ride of stolen kisses and happy infinities, trapped inside their own precious bubble of blooming romance and Waverly has honestly never been happier. She never thought it possible to be this excited about another person, least of all a _woman_ and certainly not a woman as truly magnificent as Nicole. Waverly is half-convinced that she’s going to wake up at any moment to find that it has all been a wonderful dream.

But each milestone that passes – spending the night curled up in each other’s arms for the first time at the homestead; Waverly briefly meeting one of Nicole’s best friends from college over FaceTime last week; and now stepping foot into Nicole’s private sanctuary away from cop stuff and Earp curses and fighting revenants – solidifies in Waverly’s mind that this is actually her reality, that she’s actually lucky enough to call Nicole _hers_.

“It’s not much,” Nicole shrugs, kicking off her own shoes and hanging her jacket on the hook behind the door, “but it’s home.”

Waverly takes her first proper look around. Her initial impression is that the place is just so incredibly _Nicole_. Everything is decorated in soft blues, from the walls to the curtains and even the decorative cushions on the couch. There’s a coffee table in the middle of the room, a couple of paintings hanging on the walls, and a shelf stacked with books. Waverly makes a mental note to explore what titles Nicole has at a later date, though she does feel a surge of affection for her girlfriend (are they girlfriends yet?) when she notices that the books are organised in alphabetical order of the author’s surname – just how she does it with her own books too.

“Baby, I love it,” Waverly confesses, stepping further inside and noticing that there’s a kitchen just around the corner.

“You do?” asks Nicole, her eyes softening and her body visibly relaxing. Waverly finds something oddly adorable about the idea of Nicole being worried that Waverly might not like her place, and she imagines Nicole rushing around earlier today dusting surfaces and straightening cushions to make sure that everything is just perfect for her girlfriend’s first visit.

Waverly nods and says, “It’s so you.”

They get caught looking at each other and Waverly is struck once again by how lucky she is to have Nicole in her life, and wonders what she did to deserve the good karma that led her to go from somebody like Champ to Nicole.

Distracted by thoughts of her own happiness, Waverly lets out a startled yelp as something large and orange unexpectedly leaps up beside her. Once the initial shock has subsided and her frantic heartrate is rapidly calming down, she realises that the fluffiest cat she has ever seen is now perched on the back of the couch, staring at her with wide yellow eyes.

“And here we have the queen of the roost,” says Nicole, crossing the room and scratching the cat behind its ears. The cat twists its head, arching up into Nicole’s touch as it lets out a soft purr. “Waves, meet Calamity Jane.”

Waverly smiles softly as she approaches the cat, one tentative hand outstretched. She strokes Calamity Jane’s back, running her fingers through the thick orange fur, but instead of basking in the touch like she did with Nicole, the cat curls away from Waverly’s fingers. Leaping off the back of the couch, she slinks between Nicole’s legs and darts into the kitchen.

“I don’t think she likes me,” Waverly pouts, watching as Calamity Jane’s tail disappears around the corner.

“She doesn’t know you,” says Nicole, wrapping her arms around Waverly and pressing her lips to Waverly’s forehead. “It’s been a while since I’ve had anybody to bring home to meet her. She’s just shy and not used to sharing me with somebody else.”

This thing with Nicole is new and scary and Waverly is still figuring out so many things but one of the few things that she _is_ certain about is that she wants it to last. And though she knows it’s stupid, getting a rejected by Calamity Jane feels a little bit of an obstacle in the way of their possible forever.

“I want her to like me.”

“You know what, baby?” asks Nicole, and Waverly’s heart does a little flip in her chest at Nicole’s casual use of the pet name. “ _I_ like you. Is that enough for now?”

Waverly relaxes in Nicole’s arms, lifting her head to look Nicole in the eyes as she teasingly answers, “I guess it’ll have to be.”

Nicole laughs and releases Waverly from the embrace. Taking a couple of steps backwards in the direction of the kitchen, she says, “Make yourself comfortable. I’ve got some menus – we can order takeout and put a movie on.”

“That sounds perfect,” Waverly tells Nicole, walking around to the front of the couch and taking a seat at one end.

She plumps the cushions up behind her and tries to make herself feel at home on the couch while Nicole rummages around in the kitchen for the menus. But as soon as Waverly feels comfortable, she hears a soft mewling noise from down by her feet, and when she glances down to investigate the source of the noise, only to finding Calamity Jane staring at her with those unblinking eyes again.

“Nicole!” Waverly calls out. “Uh, why is your cat looking at me like this?”

Nicole returns from the kitchen just as Calamity Jane meows a second, slightly louder time, and just laughs when she sees that way that Waverly and the cat are eyeing each other with great suspicion.

“Because,” says Nicole, reaching out with the hand not clutching a stack of menus to take Waverly’s hand, pulling her up to her feet, “you’re sitting at her end of the couch.”

With Waverly no longer seated, Calamity Jane springs up onto the newly vacated couch cushions, pruning her fur before she settles down where Waverly was sitting. Nicole sits down at the other end of the couch and pulls Waverly onto her lap. Waverly isn’t complaining about this new position, in fact anything that allows her to be as close to Nicole as humanly possible is a positive in her eyes, but she can’t help but feel embarrassed as Calamity Jane’s yellow eyes blink at her from across the couch. She almost wonders if the cat is going to spy Waverly sitting on her owner’s lap and oust her from that seat too.

Holding the menus out so that they can both read them, Nicole nuzzles her face into the skin of Waverly’s neck and asks, “What do you want?”

Waverly spares one final glance towards the cat at the other end of the couch, then shakes her head as she realises how stupid she’s being so that she can concentrate on the task at hand.

* * *

Nicole wakes the following morning, bleary-eyed and cursing whoever designed the rota at the Sheriff’s Department meaning that she has to go into work this morning instead of spending it with the girl tucked into her side. Waverly’s head rests on Nicole’s shoulder, hair splayed across the pillow beside Nicole, with one of her legs is curled across Nicole’s hip and it is _blissful_. Nicole decides that she could quite happily spend the rest of her life like this, with no responsibilities except keeping Waverly company.

It takes a great deal of effort to extract herself from Waverly’s embrace – in fact, Waverly sleepily wraps her arms around Nicole a little bit tighter as Nicole tries to slip out from beneath the covers and it melts Nicole’s heart.

“Sorry, baby,” Nicole whispers in a hushed voice, pressing her lips against Waverly’s forehead and pulling the blankets back up to cocoon Waverly in their warmth as she leaves their comfort. “I’ve got work. It’s just a few hours and then I’ll be back.” Waverly hum sleepily in response, and though Nicole isn’t entirely sure that Waverly is conscious enough to understand, Nicole takes it as an affirmative and continues, “You can stay here if you like.”

Nicole dresses into her police uniform in silence, though it’s a task that takes a lot longer than usual because she keeps getting distracted by the beautiful girl in her bed and the sleepy little sighs that Waverly keeps letting out.

(Would it really be that bad if she phoned Nedley and called in sick, just for a couple more hours with Waverly?)

“Bye, sweetie,” Nicole says once fully dressed, running her fingers tenderly through Waverly’s hair and dropping another kiss to Waverly’s head. Waverly’s eyes flutter open and she mumbles something unintelligible in response. “I’ll see you later.” Nicole makes to leave the bedroom, albeit reluctantly, but when she reaches the door she remembers something and stops to add, “If you get the chance, could you put some food and water out for Calamity Jane? See you later!”

* * *

Nicole’s shift isn’t long but it keeps her busy. There’s a stolen car and all the paperwork and procedures that go along with reporting it missing and checking footage to see if it has been sighted anywhere, then when two teenagers are caught vandalizing a playground, Nicole ends up having to deal with giving them official warnings and waiting for their parents to collect them. It’s all just grunt work, nothing particularly exciting, and Nicole is certain that what makes it all worse is knowing what (or rather _who_ ) she left behind this morning.

Things with Waverly are going remarkably well. Nicole doesn’t want to jinx things, not this early into whatever it is that they’re calling this new relationship, but she hasn’t felt like about somebody else in a very long time. She’s known ever since she first saw Waverly that the girl is special but when she learned of Champ’s existence Nicole never thought she would stand a chance with the youngest Earp.

Oh, how things have changed.

Nicole is still reeling from their first kiss a few weeks ago, from the way that Waverly pushed past all her inhibitions to go after what she wanted – and for what she wanted to be _Nicole_. Everything since then has been a whirlpool of happiness, sucking Nicole into the ecstasy of this new relationship with Waverly, and she can’t quite believe that it is still real.

Nicole has to admit, she was a little nervous about having Waverly come over to her place last night. Waverly is still incredibly new to the whole ‘liking girls’ thing and Nicole half expects her to change her mind at any moment and decide that Nicole isn’t who she wants to be with. Inviting Waverly over to her apartment, a deeply personal space filled with everything that Nicole owns in life, where Waverly could stumble across one tiny thing that puts her off Nicole for good, seemed terrifying.

But it all went to plan. They ordered Chinese food and watched a movie, before Nicole nervously offered to let Waverly stay the night, and Waverly agreed. Waverly seemed to like everything that Nicole’s apartment revealed about her.

Except for Calamity Jane.

Nicole didn’t voice this to Waverly because she could tell that Waverly was worried about Calamity Jane’s cold reaction towards her (Nicole actually thought the initial meeting went quite well – Waverly didn’t lose any blood, which is what happened to the last girl Nicole brought home after a particularly vicious scratch) but she really wants Waverly and Calamity Jane to get along. The cat has been the one constant in Nicole’s life for the last few years while she’s moved around a lot, trying to find her place to settle down, and she has no intention of saying goodbye to her best friend. But losing Waverly isn’t an option either, not of Nicole’s own volition anyway. She hopes that last night will be the first of many that Waverly spends at her place and Nicole would love for Calamity Jane to warm to Waverly as things slowly get more serious.

Her worries, as Nicole discovers when she gets home from her shift, are stupid.

“Waves!” Nicole calls out as she unlocks her door and steps inside, removing the Stetson from her head. “Waves, are you still here?”

Nicole moves further into the room, noticing that the television in the corner is softly playing a nature documentary. _Waverly must still be here then,_ thinks Nicole, though there is no sign of the other girl anywhere.

Until Nicole is far enough into the apartment that she can see that couch, and the sight upon it that befalls her somehow makes her forget about the dull day at work and the paperwork and the teenagers that swore at her when she put them in the back of her cruiser to take them to the station.

Because on her couch lies Waverly, eyes shut and chest rising and falling as she snores softly, with a bundle of orange fur curled up on her stomach, Calamity Jane just as much asleep as the woman she uses as a pillow.

“Oh, Waves,” Nicole exhales softly, and for the first time in their short relationship, Nicole realises that she’s on the path to helplessly falling in love with Waverly Earp.

Either Waverly hears her name, or she must sense Nicole’s presence, because she stirs on the couch and slowly blinks her eyes open. She looks around confusedly until she spots Nicole standing over her with a look of pure adoration on her face, then sits up as much as she can without disturbing the sleeping cat that lies on her.

“That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen,” Nicole confesses, perching on the arm of the couch and reaching out with one hand to Waverly’s head, where she cards her fingers through the messy brunette curls. “You and Calamity Jane ironed out your differences then?”

“All it took was one pouch of organic cat food,” Waverly shrugs. “She was very amenable after I fed her.”

“I’m glad you two are getting along.”

“Hmmm, she’s okay,” Waverly replies with a shrug, though the little smile on her face as she massages her fingers behind Calamity Jane’s ears, eliciting a purr of pleasure from the cat in her lap. Waverly glances up at Nicole, her cheeks still flushed from sleep and her eyes full of the same kind of adoration that Nicole thinks is reflected in her own right now. “I prefer her owner though.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed and that this story provided some relief from all the recent angst.
> 
> Come and join me over on tumblr [@almostafantasia](http://www.almostafantasia.tumblr.com) where I'll happily accept prompts for other quick little Wayhaught oneshots.


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